1 Introduction

Overview

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The NanoPi NEO Core(abbreviated as "NEO Core") is an alternative NanoPi NEO that works like a CPU board with male pin-headers. It has the same form factor as the NanoPi NEO and same pin descriptions. The connectors and ports are populated to pin-headers on the NEO Core. The NanoPi NEO Core has ESD protection for its MicroUSB port and TF card slot. In addition the NEO Core can have an optional onboard eMMC flash which is preferred by industrial customers.

The NEO Core uses a popular Allwinner H3 SoC and has onboard 256M/512M DDR3 RAM. FriendlyElec offers models with three eMMC options: 8GB/16GB/32GB and one that doesn't have eMMC at all.

FriendlyElec migrated UbuntuCore with mainline kernel 4.x.y for it.

FriendlyElec develops a Mini Shield for NanoPi NEO Core/Core2 which has the same form factor as the RPi 3. When a NanoPi NEO Core is connected to this Mini Shield the whole assembled module can be well fit into a common RPi 3's case.

VVDD_5V: 5V power input/output. When the external device’s power is greater than the MicroUSB's the external device is charging the board otherwise the board powers the external device. The input range is 4.7V ~ 5.6V

Windows utility for flashing Debian image. Under Linux users can use "dd"

4.3.2 Linux

4.3.2.1 Boot from TF

FriendlyCore / Debian / Ubuntu are all based on a same Linux distribution and their installation methods are the same.

Extract the Linux image and win32diskimager.rar files. Insert a TF card(at least 8G) into a Windows PC and run the win32diskimager utility as administrator. On the utility's main window select your TF card's drive, the wanted image file and click on "write" to start flashing the TF card.

Insert this card into your board's BOOT slot and power on (with a 5V/2A power source). If the PWR LED is on and the STAT LED is blinking this indicates your board has successfully booted.

4.3.2.2 Boot from eMMC

4.3.2.2.1 Flash OS with eflasher Utility

Extract the eflasher Image and win32diskimager.rar files. Insert a TF card(at least 4G) into a Windows PC and run the win32diskimager utility as administrator. On the utility's main window select your TF card's drive, the wanted image file and click on "write" to start flashing the TF card.

Insert this card into your board's BOOT slot and power on (with a 5V/2A power source). If the green LED is on and the blue LED is blinking this indicates your board has successfully booted.

If your board doesn't support HDMI or no monitor is connected you can select an OS by running the following command:

$ su root
$ eflasher

The password for "root" is "fa".Type a number and enter to select an OS, then type "yes" and enter to start installation:
After installation is done shutdown the system, take out the TF card, power on your board again and it will boot from eMMC.

If you want to flash other OS image to eMMC download the whole directory "images-for-eflasher" in the CD and extract the packages in the directory to the "FRIENDLYARM" section in your SD card.

6.17 运行Qt示例程序

7 Make Your Own FriendlyCore

7.1 Use Mainline BSP

The NanoPi NEO Core has gotten support for kernel Linux-4.x.y with Ubuntu Core 16.04. For more details about how to use mainline u-boot and Linux-4.x.y refer to :Mainline U-boot & Linux

8 Connect External Modules to NEO Core

8.1 Connect Mini Shield for NanoPi NEO Core/Core2 to NEO Core

8.2 Connect Python Programmable NanoHat OLED to NEO Core

The NanoHat OLED module is a small and cute monochrome OLED module with low power consumption. It has three user buttons. We provide its driver's source code and a user friendly shell interface on which you can check system information and status.A customized aluminum case is made for it. You cannot miss this lovely utility! Here is a hardware setup:NanoHat OLED

8.3 Connect Python Programmable NanoHat Motor to NEO Core

The NanoHat Motor module can drive four 5V PWM steering motors and four 12V DC motors or four 5V PWM steering motors and two 12V four-wire step motors.Here is a hardware setup: NanoHat Motor

8.4 Connect NanoHat PCM5102A to NEO Core

8.5 Connect Arduino Compatible UNO Dock to NEO Core

The UNO Dock module is an Arduino board compatible with Arduino UNO and works with Arduino programs.You can use Arduino IDE to run all Arduino programs on the Dock.It also exposes the NanoPi NEO Core's pins.It converts 12V power input to 5V/2A output.You can search for various code samples from Ubuntu's ecosystem and run on the Dock. These features make it a powerful platform for IOT projects and cloud related applications. Here is a hardware setup:UNO Dock for NanoPi NEO v1.0

8.7 Connect NanoHat Proto to NEO Core

8.8 Connect Matrix - 2'8 SPI Key TFT to NanoPi NEO Core

The Matrix-2'8_SPI_Key_TFT module is a 2.8" TFT LCD with resistive touch. It uses the ST7789S IC and XPT2046 resistive touch IC. It has SPI interface and three configurable user keys.Here is its wiki page Matrix - 2'8 SPI Key TFT